To Live Again

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday, the 20th of February, 2022, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Family, what if we’re wrong?  What if everything we’ve been taught, everything we believe in regarding God and His kingdom, is all just a fabrication, a myth?  What if Jesus really was just a man, a normal human like you and I?  What if we’re wrong and the doubters and non-believers are right?  What if at the end of our life we just die, and then there’s nothing else: no heaven, no hell?

Have you ever had doubts, or asked yourself those questions?  I bet most if not all of us have at some time asked something like, “Why would a loving God let that happen?”, when the obvious answer could simply be, “Because there is no God.”

I wonder if the Apostle Paul was ever asked questions like these, or encountered people who pondered over these possibilities.  Paul himself seemed absolutely certain of the basis of his theology, as indicated by all he wrote in his letters and from what the Apostle Luke recorded in his Book of the Acts of the Apostles.  But he must have come across some in his travels and teachings who had deep, heartfelt doubts, for he gives us a very good answer to all these concerns.

Please listen and follow along to the words the Apostle Paul left us in chapter 15 of his 1st letter to the Corinthians, verses 1 through 20, and I’ll be reading from the English Standard Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you — unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

--1 Corinthians 15:1-20 (ESV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for raising Your Son Jesus from the dead, giving Him new life.  By this we believe in the resurrection of the body and know that we too will be raised to new life.  Please help us maintain this belief even in the face of those who doubt and who question our belief.  And help us tell others all about Jesus and why we believe.  Father, please protect us from Satan and from those who do his bidding.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Renew our spirit.  Breathe new life into our hearts and into our will to serve.  This we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Columnist Erma Bombeck once wrote, “Seize the moment!  Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart.”

And comedian Flip Wilson is quoted as having said, “If I had my whole life to live over again, I don't think I'd have the strength.”

Don’t pass up the chance for dessert!  There’s a lot of truth in what Ms. Bombeck wrote.  We don’t know when our ship will sink, when we’ll breathe our last in this life, so we shouldn’t pass up the chance to serve our Lord when an opportunity arises.  And go ahead and grab that dessert, too.  Because it does seem to take a lot of strength just to get through each day, and a good dessert might strengthen us a little.

What Flip said reminds me of that old saw, “Getting old ain’t for sissies.”  These bodies aren’t made to last forever.  They break down over time, and the older we get, the tougher it becomes to do anything.

But family, we have been promised a new body once this life is over; a body that will not break down or give out on us.  We will live again, forever.  Until that day, let’s do all we can to serve our Lord, and grab an extra dessert every now and then.

Did you notice in our scripture reading how Paul answered our query, “What if we’re wrong?”  In particular, he is addressing the question of the resurrection of Jesus, and I think we need to understand why this even came up.  There was nothing in their Greek background that would lead the Corinthian people, these Gentile converts, to believe in the resurrection of the dead.  They did believe in the immortality of the soul, that the soul never dies, but not in the resurrection of the body.

Paul is arguing that if the resurrection of the dead is not possible, then Jesus was not resurrected.  And if Jesus was not resurrected, then everything they have been told about Him might also be a lie.  If it’s a lie, then our belief is in vain, pointless, a waste of time and effort.  In fact, if this one point were not true, then Paul and the other believers were misrepresenting God by saying it happened.

But, Paul continues, it is true, it did happen, and there are over 500 people who witnessed the risen Jesus and can attest to it.  And not only that, Jesus was only the firstfruits of those to be raised from the dead.  For in Christ, we have hope not only in this life, but in the next as well.

Of course, Jesus was not the first person to be raised from the dead.  He Himself brought a few back to life.  The Apostle Luke tells of a time when Jesus came upon the funeral procession for a widow’s son.  He took pity on the woman and brought the son back to life.  And the Apostles Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell of the synagogue ruler’s daughter who had died but was given life again by the word and touch of Jesus.

But there is another resurrection we are perhaps more familiar with.  The event was saved for us by the Apostle John, in chapter 11 of his Gospel account, where he recorded this in verses 21 through 27 and 38 through 44…

21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

--John 11:21-27, 38-44 (ESV)

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.”  This is the promise to us all, to all who believe.  This is what Paul alluded to when he spoke of Jesus being the firstfruits, who died and are given life again.  But this new life will be eternal.  We will never die again.

So let me ask once more, what if we are wrong?  What if our belief is wrong?  What if there is no heaven or hell?  Have we wasted all this time and thrown away chances for great pleasures in this life, all for nothing?

No, I don’t think so, for studies show that believers are usually the happiest, most content of all people.  So if we are wrong, we really haven’t lost anything.  But on the other hand, if the non-believers are wrong, they will pay the ultimate price for their pleasure in this life: an eternity of damnation, suffering, and pain.

Like Paul said, though, if we trust in Christ only for what He can do for us in this life, we are to be pitied most of all.  Fortunately, we know better.  Our hope is in the Lord, and the promise that through His sacrifice and our belief, we will be allowed to live again and never die, this time in paradise.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for bodily raising Jesus from the dead, so that others could see and witness to His resurrection.  Thank You for the promise that we too will be brought forth in new bodies to live again.  Thank You for giving us the faith to believe in Jesus as Your Son and to follow Him.  But Father, sometimes we encounter people who don’t believe.  Sometimes they ridicule us or try to make life more difficult for us.  We worry about them and their eternal life, but we also worry about ourselves and getting through this life.  Forgive us, Father, when we hesitate to try to help them.  Help us approach them with love and tell them of Jesus.  Give us the words to say.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true until that time You call us to live again.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You brought people back to life again, and by Your own resurrection we know that we too will be given new life.  We believe in You and all that is written about You in our Bible.  And for this, we will live again and will never die.  Please, Lord, help us get through the days we have left here on earth.  Forgive us, Jesus, when we falter and stumble, when we are too timid or afraid to do as You command us.  Help us be good servants while we still live this life.  And Jesus, please strengthen us through these troubling times.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on what this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.